Detrital zircon grains of an igneous rock as seen through an incident light microscope. Photo credit: Martin Lindner. From: Költringer
Detrital zircon grains of an igneous rock as seen through an incident light microscope. Photo credit: Martin Lindner. From: Költringer

Geology

Case Study: detrital zircon

[ED: On the occasion of releasing a new dataset: ON-004-04D Data tables of detrital zircon U-Pb geochronologic analyses and trace element concentrations of select Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene rocks, Denver Basin and Northeastern Colorado (Data) – v20231110 that features data on 10 samples tested from a…

Detail from one of over 600 Denver Basin geophysical and lithological logs included in the ON-OF-78-08M digitization project. Photo credit: Colorado Geological Survey.
Detail from one of over 600 Denver Basin geophysical and lithological logs included in the ON-OF-78-08M digitization project. Photo credit: Colorado Geological Survey.

Geology, Minerals, Publications

New GIS data and maps

For those of you who are subscribers to the CGS announcement list, we want to direct your attention to a handful of new maps and recently digitized analog data sets that we haven’t otherwise publicized. These include several important online GIS maps and downloadable data packages:…

A uranium-rich zone in a sandstone of the Morrison Formation
A uranium-rich zone in a sandstone of the Morrison Formation, Carnation Mine, San Miguel County, CO, January 2007. Photo credit: Chris Carroll (CGS).

Energy, Minerals

Colorado’s Uranium Deposits

[Ed: this document, written in 2011 by Jim Burnell, Ph.D., P.G. (former Senior Minerals Geologist, Colorado Geological Survey), provides an excellent narrative on the sources of uranium deposits on the Western Slope of Colorado. However, it’s not the whole story—there is fascinating new science research implicating biological/organismic activity underground that…